S-3 Heads West to Bar Symon

My girlfriends from work, or as S-3 as we now refer to ourselves, plan monthly get togethers for dinner and catching up. This may seem strange to non-auditors, but we are always at client sites, not really in the office, so sometimes we don't see each other for long periods of time. And other (good) times we work together everyday. Lately I haven't been seeing much of any of them because I was exiled to Niles, but that is over for now. This month was Bender's turn to host and we decided to head out west to Avon Lake and take in Michael Symon's new Bar Symon.

Bender and I had some serious difficulty finding this place. If you are headed out there it is by BW-3's, follow the signs. I loved the atmoshpere and patio, rustic chic, but the food left us all underwhelmed. I hate to say that because I love MS and love Lolita and love all that he does for the Cleve. But while we are being honest, I am also underwhelmed by Lola. I'm glad to get that off my chest cuz I think I am the only Clevelander that feels this way. Ok, so I am firm believer that if you don't have anything nice to say... but I feel the need to substantiate why we (collectively 6 girls) were not impressed with Bar Symon and out of devotion to MS I also feel the need to justify why we may be wrong.

Looking back the highlight of the meal was the bread an butter - not a good sign. We split a bottle of pinot noir to share and started with 2 apps: the popcorn with feta and oregano and house chips with bleu cheese fondue. I was really excited about both of these, and maybe it was because I was expecting something else that I was so disappointed. I was hoping for popcorn similar to Crop's version that I so love, but this version was soggy and too cheesy. And I was hoping for chips similar to some that I had a restaurant called Canoe in New Hampshire a few years back that Bones and I to this day still rave about, but these were more like chips with a side of funky gravy. So maybe if you went into these apps without such high expectation, you may enjoy them, but we left most of ours on the table.

Moving on to the meals. Four of the girls tried the tomato soup and really enjoyed it. Two girls had the grilled cheese, two girls had the Mac & Cheese, and myself and Bender tried the goat cheese salad. The fries with the grilled cheese were really good, but just a skinnier version of the ones at Bar Cento served with lots of rosemary. And the lola ketchup was too sweet and a little too adventurous for some of the us. The Mac & Cheese was pretty much the same as you can get at Lolita's. And the goat cheese salad would have been awesome if there was just a little less cheese on it. I really love cheese, but sometimes less really is more. This thing was completely covered in cheese - cut the cheese in half and you've got a great salad.

Lots of other items on the menu look great, but I will not be driving back to Avon Lake anytime soon. If you live in the area, that is one thing, but otherwise, I think you can find this food (or better versions) much closer to downtown.

Have you tried Bay Symon? Thoughts?? Was it just a fluke Monday?

Sexy Six Sigma Dinner Party #1

It's a silly name, but some of my girlfriends from work and I (six of us) have started a monthly supper club. This was technically our second gathering, but since it is the first I am writing about lets go with #1. We had dinner together on Wednesday evening with grand plans to break in the Di Salvo's (AKA Bones and Gui Gui) new gorgeous patio. Well the Cleveland weather, in typical fashion, had other ideas, so we ate inside and admired what a beautiful new patio they put in - even soaking wet.

Bones is quite the hostess. We started the evening with delicious sangria. Here is her recipe, adapted from Bobby Flay or "Bobby Filet" as some may say ;)

Red Sangria

Ingredients
3/4 cup simple syrup, equal parts sugar and water
2 bottles red wine (Bones used their own homemade wine)
3/4 cup blackberry brandy
1/2 cup triple sec
3/4 cup orange juice
2 oranges, sliced into thin round
2 green apples, cored and sliced thin
2 lemons, sliced into thin rounds
1 pint blackberries

Directions
Boil water + pour over sugar to dissolve. Cool. Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and refrigerate, covered, 2 hours or up to 2 days. Serve over ice.

Our first course was whole artichokes with olive oil, s&p, and olive oil. Bones found the largest artichokes I have ever seen. They were so good!

First course

The second course was rigatoni with Bones homemade red sauce and chicken cacciatore. The red sauce is a Di Salvo family recipe and the chicken recipe came from Giada De Laurentiis. To the left is Bean and the pasta.

I had been wanting to make an Ice Box Cake for awhile now and I thought a girls night would be the perfect occasion. The recipe(s) come from Smitten Kitchen. An Ice Box cake is when you layer cookies and whip cream into the shape of a cake. Then let it sit in the fridge overnight and the cookies begin to soak in the cream and soften. The next day the cake can be sliced like a real cake and the result was pure awesome. Here is the ice box cake recipe. If you can find the Nabisco Chocolate wafers that it calls for, this cake will take about 10 minutes to make. If you cannot (and I could not) than making your own wafer cookies with her recipe really isn't hard, just time consuming for the numerous batches. Above is Bones and the yummy yummy cake. The dinner party was big hit and I am eagerly awaiting our June date at Bean and G-Bone's house!

A little slice of heaven!